Can Swaddling Help My Baby With Colic?

Swaddling is a method of wrapping your baby snugly in a blanket or a sheet. Swaddling has been practiced for centuries by various cultures. Swaddling serves to help your baby feel safe and secure. In some ways, when your baby is being swaddled, it resembles the feelings that your baby would have felt when your baby was still in the womb. Swaddling is especially appropriate for newborns. There is also some evidence to suggest that swaddling may even be able to help your baby with colic.

The fact of the matter is that we know very little about what causes a baby to have colic. There are several different ideas about what might cause colic, from overstimulation to problems with the digestive system. It is likely that colic is caused by different things for different babies. If it does happen that your baby has colic because of being overstimulated or overstressed, swaddling can help your baby with colic. Swaddling serves to settle your infant, and to soothe your infant while they are feeling irritable. In addition to swaddling helping your baby with colic, swaddling may also help with a variety of other factors, such as reducing the risk of SIDS.

Swaddling your baby is a relatively simple technique. First, lay out a sheet, swaddling blanket, or safety blanket with one of the corners slightly folded over. Place your baby on the blanket facing up, allowing your baby’s neck to rest on the folded portion of the sheet. You will then wrap one of the corners across your baby’s body. Tuck that corner underneath your baby. Then, you will lift the bottom corner of the blanket up over his or her feet. Finally you will wrap the right corner of the blanket around your baby. Only the baby’s neck and head will be exposed. Make certain that your baby’s face is not covered, which could cause suffocation or overheating. You will also want to be careful not to wrap your baby too tightly, which could cut off his or her circulation.

While it is not guaranteed that swaddling will help your baby with colic, it is probably at least worth a try.